Virgin later said all services from London Euston had been suspended. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

With the rail network already battered by flooding and lines cut off in the south-west, the impact of extreme weather reached new dramatic heights when the train firm running Britain's main intercity route issued sudden instructions for all passengers to abandon travel.

The message was retweeted more than 1,000 times, with some suspecting a hoax, but it swiftly proved genuine. Speed restrictions had already been put in place on the west coast main line in anticipation of high winds but as the storm developed, with gusts recorded at up to 108mph coming inland over Wales, the situation deteriorated.

By 6.15pm Network Rail said the west coast main line, linking London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, was closed north of Nuneaton because of overhead line failures and debris on the track. The situation was continuing to develop with problems making the faster intercity trains untenable, although some commuter services continued to run.

While the press team initially suspected an unfortunate choice of words, the brief hiatus revealed that the company's Twitter account was indeed accurate. The Twitter team sit closest to the action at Virgin's control centre in Birmingham, where the decision was taken for drastic action as hurricane-force winds grew.

Parts of the west coast main line between Preston and Carlisle were already due to close on Wednesday evening because of forecast winds, with speed limits in force along the line.